Saturday, February 13, 2010

WHILE WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao prepares to celebrate a warm and cozy Valentine's Day with wife Jinkee, his opponent, Joshua “Grand Master” Clottey of Ghana has become a casualty of the blizzards and record snowfall hitting the US East Coast.

Clottey is based in New York which was smothered with 10 to 16 inches (25 to 40 centimeters) of snow a couple of days ago. This obviously will make the challenger stay indoors and unable to do roadwork. To add insult to injury, his trainer of choice, Godwin Dzainie Kotey has yet to be granted an American visa and still cannot join the former world champion in training.

Clottey has been living in the Bronx since 2003. In August 2008, Clottey beat Zab Judah by 9th round technical decision for the IBF welterweight title. He relinquished his IBF belt last year for the opportunity to fight Miguel Cotto where he suffered a split decision loss. Clottey does plan to move his training camp to Florida.

Meanwhile, seven time world champion Pacquiao, is currently on target with his training regimen under Freddie Roach and is so relaxed that he is scheduled to have a Valentine's show this weekend.

Promoters and organizers of the March 13 mega-fight in Dallas are worried that Clottey's predicament will lead to less interest and pay-per-view sales will drop as fans expect a one-sided bout in the Filipino's favor.

Sales of Pacquiao vs Clottey will be ranged against the PPV receipts of the Shane Mosley vs Floyd Mayweather fight. If Pacquiao wants to fight the winner, marketability and receipts will be used as a bargaining chip.

Manny Pacquiao Profile

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao born December 17, 1978, more commonly known as Manny Pacquiao, is a Filipino professional boxer.

He is currently the WBO World welterweight champion, Ring Magazine light welterweight champion, and is rated by Ring Magazine as the number 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

He is also the former WBC World lightweight champion, WBC World super featherweight champion, IBF World super bantamweight champion, and WBC World flyweight champion. Furthermore, he is the former Ring Magazine featherweight and super featherweight champion.

Joshua Clottey Profile

Joshua Clottey (born in March 16, 1976 in Accra, Ghana) is a Welterweight boxer who hails from Accra, Ghana, but now lives in the Bronx, New York. He is the former IBF Welterweight Champion.